


Hey There, Stranger

by corruptedkid



Category: My Chemical Romance
Genre: Bullets Era, Inspired By Tumblr, M/M, Podfic Welcome
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-28
Updated: 2017-08-28
Packaged: 2018-12-20 23:58:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11932041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/corruptedkid/pseuds/corruptedkid
Summary: Gerard gets dragged to a party. Frank takes one look at him and calls dibs.





	Hey There, Stranger

**Author's Note:**

> took a break from slaving away at my other fics to write this lil thing. thank you tumblr for inspiring me

Gerard could feel the dull pounding of the bass through the walls.

He stood outside the doorway, nervously shifting his weight from one foot to the other. All he had to do was reach out and open the door, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. He kept thinking about what would await him once he went inside. Loud music, drunk people, girls who would laugh, boys who would give him strange looks. _Why is he here?_ They’d think. _Who invited him?_

Gerard wondered if it was too late to go back home.

Parties were not his thing. They were the opposite of his thing. Really, he didn’t see what was so appealing about them. They were just a mess of bad decisions and eventual arrests for driving under the influence. Call him crazy, but he preferred the quiet comfort of his basement. He didn’t know why he’d let Mikey talk him into this.

“It’s not that you’re crazy,” Mikey had explained, his thumbs flying over his PS2 controller. “It’s just - and I mean this in the best way possible - it’s a little pathetic, Gee.”

_Peer pressure,_ Gerard thought to himself. _Fucking peer pressure._

His hand hovered over the doorknob.

It wasn’t too late.

But Mikey would be disappointed if he left. He’d want to know why, and he’d sigh over the fact that Gerard never went places with him, and it wouldn’t be _that_ big of a deal, but it would still make Gerard feel stupid and guilty. He could do this. He could survive one party. All he had to do was hide in the corner and not talk to anyone. That wouldn’t be hard; in fact, it was what he did best.

Encouraged, he pushed open the door. Immediately, the music grew ten times louder, so he could feel the bass reverberating through his bones. He resisted the urge to stuff his fingers into his ears.

The inside looked exactly like he’d imagined. He didn’t know whose apartment it was - some friend or acquaintance or hookup of Mikey’s - but it was in the process of getting trashed. People were laughing and talking in clusters. A stereo was blasting some manufactured pop song, which a group of girls in short skirts were dancing to. There was a couple making out on the couch as if nobody else was there. The chaos of it all was weirdly encouraging. Since almost everyone there was a hot mess, no one would notice if Gerard was an anxious mess. Right?

He closed the door behind him. Now, to find Mikey. 

Gerard scanned around the room, searching for a familiar face. He thought he saw a couple people he knew through Mikey, but Mikey himself was nowhere to be found. Gerard hesitated, then braced himself and started to maneuver through the crowd. Once he reached a clearer spot, he paused to look around again, standing on his tiptoes to see over people’s heads.

He didn’t see Mikey. He did, however, see a short, punk-looking boy who was openly staring at him. Gerard quickly averted his eyes. _Shit._ It had already started. He had to find Mikey before the social humiliation began. 

He glanced up at the boy again, just to make sure he had actually been looking at Gerard and not someone else. To Gerard’s dismay, he was still staring.

He didn’t look confused or disgusted, though. Instead, he just looked… interested. When he noticed Gerard looking back at him, his face split into a broad grin, and reached over to tap one of his friends on the shoulder. He pointed towards Gerard and said something inaudible under the music. 

Gerard flushed. He turned away, to find Mikey or flee outright, he didn’t know, but a voice caught his attention before he could leave the room.

“Dibs!” it shouted. Gerard risked a glance over his shoulder, and there was his little punk boy, beaming at him from afar. “Fucking _dibs_!” he yelled again, and yeah, Gerard needed to get out of there before his face turned any redder. 

He knew when he was being made fun of. Nobody ever complimented him in public, much less made a show of it. Plus, from what Gerard could see, the guy was cute - pierced lip, spiked up hair, and a grin Gerard could look at all night. He was exactly Gerard’s type, and that was why he couldn’t have been serious. Gerard wasn’t that lucky.

After nearly ten minutes of searching, Gerard finally managed to locate Mikey. He was leaning against a wall and talking to some guys who Gerard suspected were in a band. When he saw Gerard coming, he gave a little wave. “Hi,” he said, once Gerard was in earshot. “Make any friends?”

“Why did you drag me here?” Gerard hissed. “People are already looking at me weird!”

Mikey raised one eyebrow. “What? I can’t hear you.”

Gerard leaned in closer and said through gritted teeth, “Mikey, I’m gonna kill you.”

“Oh. What else is new?” Mikey asked, taking a sip of his beer. 

“Can I leave?” Gerard pleaded. “I know you wanted to hang out, but people are already making fun of me - “

Mikey looked at him like he was crazy. “What? Who made fun of you? I’ll kick their ass.”

Gerard shrugged uncomfortably. “I dunno. Some little guy, maybe he was talking to someone else.” Gerard didn’t think so. They’d held eye contact for at least five seconds. 

Mikey furrowed his brow. “Wait. You don’t…” He grinned. “Wait, are you talking about _Frank_?”

“I don’t know, I don’t know anybody here!”

Mikey was laughing now. “Oh my God - Gerard, whatever he said, I promise he wasn’t making fun of you. Go talk to him. You’ll like him, I swear.”

Gerard scowled. “You can’t know that.”

“I do, though.” Mikey kicked at Gerard’s foot. “Go. I won’t wait up.”

“Wait, what?” Gerard asked, bewildered. “Why?”

Mikey turned his attention back to his friends, and Gerard knew he wouldn’t be getting anything more out of him. 

He heaved a sigh and turned away. If Mikey wasn’t going to talk to him, he might as well leave. There wasn’t anything for him in a place like this.

As he was fighting his way back through the crowd of people, someone tapped him on the shoulder. 

Gerard froze. After a moment’s hesitation, he turned around. Grinning up at him was the boy from before. 

“Hi,” he said. “I keep trying to think of something cool to say, but I always land on shitty pickup lines. So, you come here often?”

Gerard stared at him for way too long before he said anything. “Are you Frank?” he asked. 

“You know me!” said the boy, delighted. Gerard felt himself fighting off a smile. It was stupid, not even worth laughing over, but he couldn’t help it; Frank’s smile was infectious. “I really fuckin’ wish I could say the same, but I’d definitely remember a face like that. Who’re you?”

“Gerard,” said Gerard. “Mikey’s older brother?”

“Oh, yeah!” Frank nodded excitedly. “He told me about you, I’ve been waiting for him to introduce us for ages. Damn, somebody got the good side of the gene pool. What’s up, man?”

“Um…” Gerard was _pretty sure_ Frank had just complimented him again, and it was making his thoughts move too slowly, like all the wires in his brain had shorted out. “I dunno,” he said. “Honestly, I’m only here because Mikey asked me to be.” He privately congratulated himself for managing to string a coherent sentence together.

“He should ask you more often, then.” Frank ran a hand through his spiky hair and cleared his throat. ”So, um. Yeah. Mikey told me you’re an art person or something?”

Gerard nodded. This was more comfortable territory. He didn’t know how to deal with hot guys saying nice things about him, but he _did_ know his way around art. “Yeah, I’m at SVA.”

“Oh, sick!” There was a bit of an awkward silence, then Frank burst out with, “Okay, I totally just lied, I knew you were an artist. Mikey showed me one of your comics and I swear it was the coolest shit I’ve ever seen. And, y’know, I knew you must be cool after that, but consider my expectations fucking exceeded, ‘cause… goddamn.” He licked his lips. 

Gerard’s heart stuttered. That was entirely too much for him to process all at once, and he was almost a hundred percent sure Frank was flirting with him now, but he found that he didn’t mind. He wasn’t trying to dodge the compliments or run away. Mostly, he was replaying that glimpse of Frank’s tongue over and over in his mind and trying not to blush.

“Okay, this isn’t working,” Frank said to himself. He put his hands on Gerard’s shoulders and said very seriously, “You’re hot. Do you want to make out with me?”

Gerard’s attempts not to blush failed spectacularly. “What? Me?” Frank grinned and nodded. “Like - right now?” Frank nodded again. Gerard’s heart felt like it might beat out of his chest.

“Okay,” he mumbled. 

Frank surged forward and kissed him full on the mouth, not caring that there were people around, not caring that it was _Gerard_ , just kissing him hot and intense. Gerard froze for a second, then sighed into it and let his hands wander to Frank’s hips. For once, there wasn’t room for a single scrap of worry in his mind. He was too distracted by the feeling of Frank’s mouth on his, the sting of his teeth when he bit Gerard’s bottom lip, and his hands, God, his hands reaching up to tug at Gerard’s hair.

Gerard thought heard someone whoop in the background. He couldn’t have given less of a fuck. 

Suddenly, Mikey’s promise not to wait up made a lot more sense.


End file.
